New Year New Walk-Walking By The Spirit—What Do I Need To Let Go Of?
1/11/2015 Ruth 1:3-18 Galatians 5:13-26
We are in our new series, New Year-New Walk. Pastor Toby launched us last week with “Walking By Faith-Who Am I Going To Trust”, next week we will have Walking Worthy—Which Plan Will I Follow, The final week will be Walking In Love—What Sacrifices Will I Make. Today we are going to look at, Walking By The Spirit—What Do I Need To Let Go Of.
For those of you who are single, I want you to imagine meeting a person who you feel extremely attracted to and the person just seems to have everything on your checkoff list. For those of you who are married just imagine meeting your spouse for the first time or at that moment when you were really started to get interested in the person for the first time. Suppose the person invites you to dinner and you are excited because its your favorite restaurant. You get to the restaurant and you’re thrilled with how things have gone so far. Finally, you each take off your coat, and that’s when you notice it. The person has a big five inch button with a picture on it. You ask, “ whose picture is that on the button?” The person says,” that’s my ex, but no need to worry, all that is behind me, I’ve moved on. I’m ready to walk with you now.”
How many of you are going to say, that’s wonderful, let’s talk about the menu on the table? How many of you are going to be smart enough to say, “If you’ve moved on, why are you still wearing the picture?” We know that in order to start a new walk, something else is going to have to give. Some of us know what its like to try to be involved in a relationship with a person whose still hanging on to the previous relationship. At some point a choice is going to have to be made?
In our Old Testament Reading, Naomi was a woman in distress. She was in a foreign country. Her sons had married foreign wives. Her husband had died. Her two sons had died. She had these two daughter in laws with very little to offer them. She decided she needed a new walk. She was going to leave what they had built in Moab and go back to the land she grew up in. She told her daughters I have nothing left to offer you. Go back to your families, where you will have a realistic chance to find husbands who can offer you families and protection. I’ve got a long journey ahead of me and I have no idea how it will turn out. Look out for yourselves and don’t worry about me. Go back to your own families and think about your future.
Both daughter in laws knew that Naomi was right. Orpha looked at Naomi, hugged her and cried. She then started her new walk down a dusty road. She had to say goodbye to Naomi, to get the life she wanted.
Ruth too looked at Naomi. She hugged her and cried. Ruth knew she was about to start a new walk and she would have to let go of something to begin the journey. She chose to let go of her dreams for herself in order to become a servant for her mother in law. She said, I want to walk with you, Ruth 1:16-17 (NIV) 16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."
Ruth understood to walk by Naomi, meant to let go of something that really meant a lot to her. She would not see her parents, her brothers and sisters or her friends ever again. She was walking by faith not knowing what was in this country she had never been to. But the only way to start this new walk, was to let go of what she was to let go of her longing to stay in Moab.
When we talk about walking by the Spirit, we are being challenged to simply walk alongside Jesus, in the way Ruth walked alongside Naomi. Can you imagine yourself looking in the face of Jesus and saying, “where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.
If only each believer would add Ruth’s words to our confession when we say, “Jesus I invite you into my life.” It’s not a matter of Jesus coming into our lives and taking a seat in the living room. It’s Jesus coming into our lives and rearranging the furniture and throwing out some stuff and bringing in some other stuff. Keep in mind Jesus died on a cross, and each day a part of us is to follow him to the cross and die. Sometimes we are called to die more than once in the same day. How many of you have had those kind of days. No sooner than you got the victory over here, Satan comes from another direction with a different battle.
There is a reason the bible tells us to walk by the Spirit. God does not command us in His word to do what we naturally do. All of us have a nature that is contrary to God. Sometimes it is referred to as the flesh and other times it is referred to as the sinful nature. When we do what is natural and what we desire from within, it will lead us further away from God. Even when we try to show how good we are by trying to live holy on our own, it leads to pride and the idea that we are better than others.
In order to walk by the Spirit, you have to let go of walking by the flesh. To walk by the Spirit, you have to be in tune with God in advance. Walking by the flesh takes no preparation at all because the flesh always has a response ready.
For instance, you just walked into the store. You see a clerk and you say “hello, could you tell me where the toilet paper is.” Out of nowhere the clerk looks at and you and yells back, “Go find the blanket blank toilet paper your blankety blank self and quit bothering me.”
Now how many of you are ready to walk in the flesh or sinful nature. You already are yelling back and saying some things you have no business of saying. How many of you are thinking, how can I allow the Spirit to move in me in this situation? Because this situation is actually an answer to your prayers. You prayed that morning, God use me to make a difference in this world today. Here’s the difference God wants you to make. Not only does God want you to minister to this person, but unknown to you, a person you have been inviting to church for months is looking across the store to see how you handle this. Will you handle this like most people would, or is the Holy Spirit about to come alive inside of you?
Do you want to know why so many times our homes and our church do not look like the Spirit is present? It’s because we choose to walk in the flesh. We say we want to walk by the Spirit, but we refuse to take off that button which says “I have the right to go back to the flesh at any moment.” In the book of Galatians it tells us what it look likes to walk in the flesh.
In your home or our church is there biting going on where you say something that hurts somebody feelings but its justified by saying they needed to hear it? Is there retaliation to get back at the other person through jokes, sarcasm or hateful words? Is getting your way more important than healing the relationship so that the relationship itself is devoured?
Galatians 5:19 gives us a whole list of things that let us know we are walking in the flesh and being kept from walking by the Spirit. Are you having sex with someone you’re not married to? Are you enjoying pornography and the late night bar scene hoping you might get lucky with someone? Is something more important to you in life than God is and God is #2 or #8 or #10 in your life? Are you involved in witchcraft, astrology, doing games to contact the dead? Do you still have a twinge of hate rise up in you when you think of a certain person? Do you try to keep a bunch of foolishness going to separate people into little camps? Does jealousy keep you from being loving to a person, and you hate them because of who they are or what they have?
Do you keep exploding in anger because of temper problem you have? Do you go through the house slamming doors to let everybody know that you are mad. You want to blame it on hot blood running in your family? Do you do whatever it takes to get ahead, not caring who gets hurt in the process? Do you envy what others have and get mad because you don’t have what they have? You’re willing to tear others down out of envy? You’re even upset with God because God gave them what you should have received in your eyes. Are you getting drunk or high off of drugs? All of these things spring from the sinful nature inside of us.
The sinful nature or the flesh is in control of your body, and the body is doing what comes natural to it. As A Christian, you have a choice not to yield to the sinful nature. There is another force at work inside of you called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide you into the things of God. The Holy Spirit is greater than any temptation we face, but we have to choose to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading. Think of yourself as a glove. To walk by the Spirit, means allowing God to simply to choose the way that you go about living life every day. The problem comes in wanting to take the glove off.
Why do you want to walk by the Spirit? It’s because that’s the way you will experience what you really want in your life and in your home. The more the glove is on, the more fruit starts falling out of the glove. The best homes are filled with people walking by the Spirit. They can overcome any problem that faces them. By staying in step with the Spirit, the Spirit keeps them in step with each other.
It’s God’s desire for all of us to experience the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit takes time to develop. When we were talking about Spiritual Gifts, we learned that gifts can be given instantly. You don’t mature into the gift of healing or the gift of wisdom. God simply gives it to you. Fruit however comes about by walking by the Spirit. There are some things you get by doing, rather than by wanting or praying for them. You can want good grades, want to be be a great spouse, or want to impact the world for Christ but that’s not enough. At some point you have to allow the Holy Spirit to work a change in you.
How many of you could use more love in your life toward others. It doesn’t come from us praying for more love. It comes from walking by the Spirit. God says, today go over and sit next to that person and introduce yourself. Do you know how many of us will say no to that, because we put ourselves and our comfort ahead of ministry for Christ. God says don’t buy that yet, help this one first. That’s walking by the Spirit. You want more love, God says start a ministry to visit people in the nursing home. Take them a prayer shawl.
How many of us could use more joy in our lives. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Joy does not come from our football team winning the playoffs today. Joy comes from trusting God, so that no matter what news comes into my life, my world is not going to fall apart. Here is a text I received this week that illustrates the meaning of joy.
I would first and foremost like to thank God for another year of life. He is surely a great and Awesome God. Being diagnosed with terminal cancer has a way of making you put things into perspective. Thinking back to the day the doctor told me that my cancer was terminal and how God has kept me, brings me so much joy. At the time of the diagnosis, you start to think about the things you haven’t done, the things you intended to do, the things and people you are going to miss and it all becomes too much to bear.
I thought about how I wouldn’t be able to see my son graduate from high school, but this May, God willing he will be graduating and then off to college (full scholarship) Thank you Jesus! Things that seemed to be so overwhelming, become small and insignificant. Every day that God wakes me up and gives me another changer to get it together is certainly a blessing.
It makes me appreciate the things that are often taken for granted. Yes its cold outside, but I thank God I can feel the snow, I can walk in the snow, I can see the snow. Often in pain, but there are those that aren’t alive to fill pain. So I thank God through the pain. I am overjoyed when I think of how God has allowed me to see another year of life. It hasn’t always been easy, but in spite of everything, He continues to keep and bless me and for that I am THANKFUL. I would like to give a big shout out to my rock, Brian K. Parker Sr. He keeps me balanced and grounded. My friend, husband, soul mate, shoulder to cry on, and prayer partner. I love you soooo much.
Diagnosed with terminal cancer, yet still rejoicing with joy in the blessings of God.
Having joy leads to us producing peace in the midst of our circumstances. I don’t have to argue with you again and again. God’s peace is working its way through me. I’m free from getting drama started on facebook. I can walk away from a fight because I know walking by the Spirit in this situation is going to carry me a lot further. God’s peace keeps me from worrying about things I have no control over. Walking by the Spirit keeps me focused.
How many of us could use more patience in our lives. Are you more patient now than you were five years ago, or do you excuse your lack of patience by saying, “I don’t have time to put up with that kind of foolishness any more.” We don’t have to ask God to give us more patience. We simply need to walk by the Spirit and recognize impatience as it begins to show up and allow Jesus to change us in the situation. Has our lack of patience made our lives any better or caused Jesus to be more manifested than before? When we walk by the Spirit, God works a patience in us that allows us to accept, I don’t have to have everything right now. God knows when to say yes to my prayer. I may not ever get that, but it must be because knows I’m better off without it.
Walking by the Spirit is going to produce kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control as we listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit. We say we want these things, but we keep holding on to the things we say we want out of our lives. We have this mistaken notion that God wants us to be willing to sacrifice our lives for Him if needed. God I won’t give in to ISIS and deny Jesus. God simply wants us to serve as an usher or sing in the choir.
God doesn’t need our sacrifices. Giving up sin in our lives is not a sacrifice of which to boast. Our giving up tv shows as a sacrifice for God is of little value if we do not replace the show, with walking by the Spirit and doing something God wants us to do. We don’t stop doing the deeds of the flesh, merely to say look God I stopped. We stop doing the deeds of the flesh so that we can say, Here I am, use me. Our goal is to allow God’s spirit to live in and through us, so that we can find the life God has for us.
For many of us as believers, its not the open sin that keeps us from walking by the Spirit. It’s the idols, the so called good idols, that we put ahead of God. We can tell ourselves we’re walking by the Spirit, when it fact it may be selfish ambition, envy or a number of other things we cannot readily see. Listen to Andrea’s story and see how even good goals can keep us from experiencing God’s love and power.
When Andrea began walking by the Spirit, she found a freedom that she had not known before. The Spirit released her from the pressures she had put herself under. She realized that she didn’t have to compare herself to others to discover God’s plan for her life. God is calling each of us to walk by the Spirit in order to have His Holy Spirit make us into the person God’s calling us to be. It all begins with the decision to accept the work of Jesus in providing a salvation for you, that you never could have provided for yourself.
